islamophobic hysteria becomes conventional wisdom

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Islamophobic Hysteria Becomes Conventional WisdomAugust 23, 2012 - 1:45 pm - by Andrew C. McCarthyPage 1 of 3 Next -> View as Single Page

Its been quite a week to be the author ofThe Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage

America.

My book was well received by the public and generously reviewed by some of the conservative press.

In what passes for the mainstream media, however, it was mostly ignored and otherwise panned as

Islamophobic hysteria. This was because the book had two themes that were deeply unpopular:

1. Islamic supremacism is not a fringe ideology, but instead an entirely mainstream interpretation of

Islam that is followed by hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide the dominant Islam of the

Middle East, and whether a majority or a strong plurality the dynamic Islam in the rest of the

world today, including the West. Its chief proponents are the Saudi kingdom and the Muslim

Brotherhood (Iran and its satellites compete with a Shiite version that is equally revolutionary, but

there are vastly more Sunnis than Shiites). The Brotherhood rightly perceives itself as the intellectual

vanguard of a global Islamic mass-movement with a ground-up strategy for Islamizing societies that

prioritizes the implementation of sharia.

2. Islamists and Leftists are frequent collaborators. Though their disagreements are several and not

trivial (e.g., womens rights, gay rights, abortion), they are in harmony on basic, big-picture matters.

Both ideologies are totalitarian in the sense of wanting centralized control of peoples lives, down to

the small details; both elevate the good of the collective (or the ummah) over the individual; both are

vigorously anti-capitalist (something most Americans still do not know about Islamist ideology); and

neither can succeed in achieving its grand design without suppressing the liberties and self-

determinism of the citizen.

On point 2, some objected to my use of the wordsabotage in the subtitle. The word is not something I

came up with, though. I was quoting an internal Muslim Brotherhoodmemorandumwhich described

the Islamist mission in America as eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within by

means of sabotage (to be precise, by sabotaging the miserable house that is Western

civilization).

This concept of pretending ones intentions are benign in order to bore into a societys institutions and

fundamentally to transform them from within mirrors the Alinsky-style community organizing favored

by the hard Left. Given that Islamists admit (at least among themselves) that they are committing

sabotage, and given their propensity to make common cause with Leftists who employ the same

transform-from-within strategy, I do not think there is much merit in this objection to the
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word sabotage. Put a different way, I think the real objection is that I spotlighted something they

would rather keep hidden.

In any event, informed by these themes, Ive been arguing for almost two years that the so-called

Arab Spring, far from an outbreak of democracy, is actually the ascendancy of a new form of

authoritarianism: namely, Islamic supremacism. It is more totalitarian than the dictatorships it is

replacing. The Middle East uprisings feature democracy only cosmetically: there is the adoption of

some procedures mainly elections and constitution writing that are used in democratic societies

(as well as in non-democratic societies). There is no democratic culture, nor any realistic near-term

prospect of it. As the Arab Spring plays out, democracy is just a means of getting Islamists into

power. Once in charge, they are certain to adopt policies rooted in classical sharia and supremacist

Islams totalitarian nature. The results will be the very opposite of democracy.

The Left and other Islamic democracy project enthusiasts have either missed or obscured this

inevitability; the Obama administration provides a great example. After facilitating the Muslim

Brotherhoods takeover of Egypt, President Obama first preposterously claimed there was no reason

for concern because the Brotherhood really didnt have much of a following there. The Brothers, of

course, proceeded to win elections by 4-to-1 margins (on constitutional amendments and for

parliament). So we further heard from the administration that the Muslim Brotherhood (you know, the

Allah is our objective, the prophet is our leader, jihad is our way, dying in the way of Allah is our

highest hope Brotherhood) is really a largely secular organization something that was so

laughably absurd that National Intelligence Director James Clapper, who read his statement to

Congress from prepared notes, had to retract it within hours.

Soon came Version 3: Dont worry about the Brotherhoods going too crazy with all that sharia stuff

because the Egyptian military is really pro-American and theyre the ones that run the country

theyll never let it go to hell in a handbasket. Alas, as Ive pointed out several times (see,

e.g.,here,here, andhere), the Egyptian military, in which almost all able-bodied men serve, is a

reflection of Egyptian society. In its rank-and-file, it is substantially Islamist, just like Egypt. Its

history, moreover, is to follow the program of the dictator of the moment, not to lead.

Ivearguedthat the Egyptian military would be a pushover for the Brotherhood compared to the

Turkish military, a more formidable force (in the sense of affinity for the West) that took Prime

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan nearly a decade to tame. But I admit to thinking it would take Morsi at

least a few months its only been a few weeks, and hes already cleaned house.

What has been amazing to watch in the last few days, though, is how what was Islamophobic hysteria

about five minutes ago is suddenly such obvious fact that even the New York Times can acknowledge

it.
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Indeed, the Brotherhood turns out to be the Egyptian Kansas, as the Gray Ladyput ita week ago

while reporting on the Islamist generals Morsi has found to replace the Mubarak generals:

Samer Shehata, a professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University, said American policy makers

would be nave to think that the positions held by Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood including

criticisms of the United States and strong support for the Palestinians represented fringe

thinking. On those issues, the Brotherhood is the Egyptian Kansas, said Professor Shehata. Their

positions on foreign policy reflect rather than oppose what the Egyptian center is thinking, he said.

Wow, who knew?

Meanwhile, we learn day-by-day of more collaboration between Islamists and Leftists. The Obama

administration dramatically changes American policy by engaging informal contactswith the Muslim

Brotherhood, and helps Morsi push the pro-American generals out bypressuring themto surrender

power to Morsi. An administration officiallets slipthat there have been hundreds of meetings

between the administration and the Council on American Islamic Relations CAIR being a public

relations and lawfare outfit theBrotherhood createdto champion Hamas and other agenda items.

The administrationissues a visafor a member of a formally designated terrorist organization one

that is rabidly anti-American so he can come to the White House, along with Brotherhood

operatives, for consultations on the new Egypt. When Congress complains about it, Obamas

Homeland Security secretary says lawmakers ought toget used to itbecause more such

consultations are in the offing. The White House continues its close relations with the Islamic Society

of North America, the most important Brotherhood affiliate in America and one which like CAIR

was cited by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator the 2007-08 Holy Land

Foundation case for itsHamas financing activities.

ISNAs leader wasfront and centerat President Obamas recent Iftar dinner.

The collusion between Islamists and Leftists is not just arguable anymore, its conventional wisdom.

Literally. Evidently, tens of thousands of Islamists will be flocking to the Democratic National

Convention in Charlotte forJumah at the DNC, an extravaganza starring moderates who

champion Hamas and argue for replacing the United States Constitution with sharia.

Maybe the Left has decided Islamists are the American Kansas. This much we know, though: The

Grand Jihad is alive and well.
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islamophobic hysteria becomes conventional wisdom

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